36 THE ORIGIN OP CREATION 



her own. If a chicken did not derive its mind from its mother, 

 it would not necessarily act like a hen, Taut might follow a duck 

 into the water, or try to quack, or do many other stupid things 

 which would be considered unnatural. 



We can now answer Frank Buckland's questioner by 

 saying, that the chicken knew he was not its mother, firstly ; 

 because its appetite told it, there was a deficiency of proper 

 food for it in the person of the inquisitive gentleman ; and 

 secondly, because its mother had a natural dread of such 

 persons, and communicated that feeling, as a matter of course, 

 to her offspring. 



It may be asked, why are foxes cunning, geese stupid, and 

 ants industrious 1 This can only be answered by asking, why 

 is sugar sweet and salt acid ] Each mineral has a quality of its 

 own, gold, silver, iron, and granite, for instance. Each plant 

 has a property of its own. So also each animal has a character 

 of its own. Why they are so and should not be something 

 different, is beyond our inquiry ; as even why certain letters 

 should represent a particular sound. They are only known to 

 us as properties of the material forming each, and every one of 

 them is developed in many, if not in all cases, by the circum- 

 stances which surround them. 



